I love cooking salmon in foil packets. Super easy, fairly fast (with almost no hands-on needed), absolutely delicious. If I make salmon 3-4 times a month, I cook it in a foil packet at least once. Sometimes twice.
It’s also one of the easiest clean-ups ever. Salmon goes in foil, foil is wrapped up, packet is placed on foil-lined pan in case of leaks, everything goes into the trash after dinner. It’s great.
Normally, for a salmon packet, I just top the salmon with butter and lemon slices and serve a vegetable side dish alongside it (broiled asparagus goes perfect, especially if you dare to have Hollandaise sauce!). Every so often, we like to change it up, and since kale was on sale, this seemed like a natural choice for this week. I still did the butter and the lemon slices and added shopped kale and halved artichoke hearts to the packet. Cooked in the oven at 425 degrees for 18 minutes, they came out a little more done than I like my salmon (I like it very pink) but still not too done.
Overall, we felt this has potential. The artichokes should definitely be chopped, not just halved. I wasn’t impressed with the kale; maybe less of it would have been better. I served the foil packet with roasted potatoes, which were tasty (and a sure win for Miss H) but not the best side dish for this meal. What would have been best would have been taking the salmon out of the foil, skinning it, and dumping everything over a heap of Israeli couscous or rice. That would have been great for catching all the lemony, buttery juice that just got lost in the foil packet.
I also wonder how it would be if I cooked it at a lower temperature for a longer time. Usually, I do my foil packets for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. In the higher temperature, the kale was beginning to brown and not in a good way. Higher temperatures make for faster cooking, but I think you also run the risk of overcooking everything. Something to think about for next time.
As for Miss H, she likes salmon, especially if we make a little sandwich of it for her. She also ate her fair share of potatoes, but she wasn’t interested in kale or artichokes, not that I blame her. After opening up the foil packets, I topped the salmon with a small spoonful of capers, which MIss H absolutely loves – probably the brininess that gets her. She’s got a super big sweet tooth, but she’s also a big fan of sour, vinegary things. A rather successful dinner from her point of view.
Rating: 3 out of 5. We liked the idea of this, but the details need a little tweaking. Chopped artichokes would be a good start, along with a better side dish. Since salmon foil packets are already in our regular rotation, it’s nice to do something a little more interesting than just lemon and butter. We’ll try it with the changes and see if it works any better.
Taken from “Real Simple: Dinner Made Simple“
Hungry Red Rabbit 